AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m looking for a young Frenchwoman,” he told her, not bothering with niceties.
“Ye hae the wrong house, yer lordship. There’s naught ’ere but meself and me granddaughter,” the old woman croaked in a thick brogue.
“I’ll make that determination.” He forced his way past her, and the others followed.
A pair of burly men stepped out and blocked the way to the stairs.
Henry drew a pistol and cocked it just as the rest of his group piled in behind. “Is it worth your lives?” he asked softly, leveling the weapon and twitching aside his coat to reveal a second pistol at his waist.
The guards were unprepared for armed intruders and backed off. “His lordship paid us to see the girl didn’t escape…he didn’t say nothing about staving off nobs with guns,” said one, putting up his hands.
“Very wise of you,” Henry replied. “See they don’t bother us,” he commanded those following him.
Four footmen remained behind to see to the task, while the other two accompanied him up the narrow stair. At the top was another door, locked.
“On three,” Henry whispered. He and Percy stood side by side and, on the count of three, kicked it down.
Before them lay a bed containing a woman curled up and facing away from them. She gave no indication of having heard them enter.
Lady Aylesford stepped inside, peered into the gloom, and gasped in horror.
Henry couldn’t have agreed more. Ugly red weals crisscrossed the woman’s back, some of them still raw and oozing, and purpling bruises blossomed across her body. When he came closer, he saw there were many, many scars. Back, ribs, legs, wrists, ankles—all were covered by a fine lacework of pain.
“My God,” the countess whispered, tears springing into her eyes. “You poor child!”
Hearing them, the girl tried to turn. She cried out in pain, but it was only the weakest of sounds.
“Don’t move,” Henry said gently. “We’ll come around.” What manner of monster could do this to another human being? “Go back down and help the others,” he ordered the footmen, struggling to maintain a steady voice. “We’ll call if we need you.”
“Poor, poor child!” she again whispered, kneeling beside the bed to gently brush the girl’s hair back, ignoring the dried blood and vomit fouling the tangled mass. “She is so young, no more than sixteen!”
Henry saw that her beautiful face was unmarred, save for the tearstains streaking it. The rest of her, however, had been ravaged. It would have taken months to cause such scarring in her young flesh. Months of what could only be called brutal torture. What he saw up close made the bile rise in his throat. Forcing control to return, he grabbed the coverlet, draping it over her prone form. “Never did I imagine this,” he muttered softly. “I knew he was a sick bastard, but I never thought—”
“We cannot let this happen to Sabrina!” the countess interjected, looking up at him. “I will kill him myself before I allow it!”
The girl stirred again and struggled to lift her head.
“She’s been drugged,” Henry announced. He reached out and gently lifted an eyelid. “Laudanum. A lot, from the look of it. It’s a wonder she’s alive. I imagine vomiting was the only thing that saved her.”
“We have to get her out of here,” Percy whispered. “We cannot leave her like this! He’ll be back, and those men downstairs, they had to have had something to do with it!”
“I would not leave a dog in this place!” Henry growled from between clenched teeth, enraged. “Help me move her. Can you see if there are any clothes for her? We’ll just wrap her in the sheet for now. Percy, help me take her to the carriage.” Once they had her body covered, he bellowed for two footmen. “Grab some clean pillows and blankets, and take them to the carriage,” he ordered.
“And these,” said Lady Aylesford, shoving an armful of clothing at one of them.
The girl cried out weakly as Henry and Percy tried to maneuver her into a sitting position and wrap the sheet around her more securely.
“I’m so sorry to cause you further pain,” Henry murmured at her ear, “but you cannot remain here. We are taking you home with us.”
Several hours later, Henry and Percy sat outside the room where the physician attended the girl.
The man came out, shaking his head. “She will live, but she has been severely damaged.”
Henry felt ill as the healer cataloged her injuries and left them with medicine for when she awakened. All he could do now was wait and pray.
“She is conscious,” called Lady Aylesford a few hours later.
“I am glad to see you awake,” he said softly, coming to stand at her bedside.
